Shatterhand is a basic side scrolling action game. Your main attacks are punches: jabs and hooks. Jabs are generic straight punches, while hooks are more powerful. Shatterhand is capable of punching bullets and missiles out of midair. The game is made up of seven levels. After defeating the first stage, the next five can be done in any order. After beating these six levels, then you can proceed to the last battle and the final boss, General Grover.

A unique gameplay feature are the Alpha-Beta Boxes. You can collect these boxes throughout the game, and each box either as an alpha or beta symbol on them. When you collect three such boxes, depending on the combination of which symbols you collect, will form various Satellite Robots, which hover above Shatterhand. There are eight different types of these robots. For instance, Laserbot shoots a laser beam down towards the enemies, while Swordbot swings a sword downwards at them.

One of the main highlights of the game is the music, which is up there with the best music ever made on the NES. The sound effects are also top notch. In addition, the graphics are very nice by NES standards as well: everything looks clean and sharp. This is one of the forgotten gems of the NES.